The Bureau of Indian Affairs heard hours of testimony covering a wide range of issues during a meeting in Taunton on the proposed tribal casino project.

“My role is to make sure the decision maker is fully aware of all environmental impacts associated with the application,” said Chet McGhee, an environmental scientist with the BIA.

The bureau held the scoping meeting Wednesday night to solicit comments from the public as it prepares its environmental impact statement on the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe’s application to have land taken into trust, a process that would give the tribe sovereign control over the property — a step necessary for getting a tribal casino.

“I was confused as to why anyone would want to put a casino in a wetland area divided by a rail line and adjacent to a school and a church,” city resident Mike Callahan said at the hearing, which lasted several hours and featured public comments from more than 60 speakers.

A handful of Middleboro officials also voiced their concerns. Selectman Al Rullo questioned the impact of traffic on Route 24, especially the section between Route 140 and I-495.

“It will have a devastating impact on surrounding communities,” he said.

The Mashpee are seeking to build a casino on 146 acres in Liberty and Union Industrial Park in East Taunton.

Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. asked that “the project be looked upon favorably” by the BIA.

“The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has a long shared history with the city of Taunton, once known as Cohannet, and together, we have a long, bright, shared future,” Mashpee Wampanoag Chairman Cedric Cromwell said.

Members of the Pokanoket, Pocasset and Massachusett tribes, however, offered comments questioning the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe’s historic ties to Taunton.

“The town of Taunton is located within what is historically Pokanoket territory,” Pocasset Chairman Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson said. “The Mashpee never maintained a significant historical presence, as the Bureau of Indian Affairs would define it, in southeastern Massachusetts. They were confined to the Cape.”

Some speakers also questioned the authority of the federal government to take the Mashpee’s land into trust, citing Supreme Court rulings from Monday and 2009. Monday’s ruling could potentially expand the number of people who would have standing to file a lawsuit against a land-in-trust approval on the grounds that the Mashpee weren’t federally recognized before the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act.

“I see a jurisdictional abuse here, and I object,” said attorney Adam Bond, a former Middleboro selectman. “The BIA must first determine it has jurisdiction to act to take the Mashpee’s land into trust … I ask that the BIA follow the law and stop reaching to expand its authority and doing so at the people’s expense.”

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Cromwell, in a statement the tribe issued, disputed the court rulings’ effects on the tribe’s quest for land.

“This ruling does not change anything about our pursuit of land in trust, which is progressing rapidly, nor does it change our focus on bringing thousands of jobs and millions in revenue to our Tribe, Taunton, and Southeastern Massachusetts through our destination resort casino in Taunton,” he said in the statement. “We will meet all criteria for our initial reservation and we will be successful.”